Investments

Arctic Investment Protocol

The Arctic is a diverse, rapidly-changing and environmentally sensitive region that is home for its four million residents and also an emerging global investment opportunity. To balance these dimensions, the Arctic Investment Protocol aspires to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth in the region that furthers community well-being and builds resilient societies in a fair, inclusive and environmentally sound manner. In 2015, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Agenda Council on the Arctic published an Arctic Investment Protocol (AIP) with an intention to start a discussion and build a coalition around responsible investments in the Arctic.

While the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Arctic ceased to exist in 2016, the World Economic Forum wanted to see the work on the Arctic Investment Protocol taken forward. The AEC decided to endorse the intent of the Arctic Investment Protocol at its Annual Meeting in 2017, and the Protocol was transferred to the AEC later the same year.

Since then, the AEC has established a Working Group on Investments and Infrastructure to look at the organization’s further efforts on the Arctic Investment Protocol. Based on consultations conducted by the Working Group, concrete cases and examples of best practices are deemed very valuable to make the six principles of the Arctic Investment Protocol more tangible. Developing the Arctic Investment Protocol to make it more practically applicable was also one of the recommendations in the analysis “Business Financing in the Arctic” (2018).

The AEC Working Group on Investments and Infrastructure invites stakeholders to provide input and concrete examples of best practices to achieve sustainable investments in the Arctic and elsewhere. These examples will be incorporated into the Arctic Investment Protocol annex listing best practices.